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​Julia Salamon and Zsiltzova Lubov wins the 12th IBCA World Junior and Women's Chess Championship

by Rasika Ratnaparkhi - 07/10/2024

The 12th edition of the IBCA World Junior and World Women Championship for the Blind and Visually-Impaired concluded on 6th October, featuring 144 thrilling games across both sections. In the Junior section, Julia Salamon clinched the gold medal with 8 points after a hard-fought final round, followed by Racis Michal (7.5 points) winning silver, and Nurgisa Kuanyshuly securing bronze with 7 points. In the Women’s section, Zslitzova Lubov dominated with 9 points to win gold, while Emilia Egeman took silver with 7.5 points, and Emilia Tryjanska earned bronze with 7 points. The event concluded with a felicitation ceremony in the presence of sponsors and special guests. Read the article to know more.

Salamon and Lubov lead the tournament

The 12th edition of the IBCA World Junior and World Women Championship for the Blind and Visually-impaired officially concluded on 6th October. This nine-day tournament witnessed a total of 144 exciting games in the Junior and Women’s sections. Before the last round, Julia Salamon was leading the Junior section with 7 points and Zsiltzova Lubov was leading the Women’s section with 8 points. While Lubov had already secured the title with her brilliant score, Salamon had to fight hard to remain on the top. 

Junior Section

The fight for the Gold medal was very intense between Julia Salamon and Racis Michal. Michal needed a win to be in the race for gold while Salamon needed at least a draw to maintain her lead. This could have ended up in a tie-break unless Salamon won the last game. 

Julia Salamon was paired against her compatriot Fabian Spionkowski with black pieces. The game started with Sicilian Defence with both the players playing safely. When the game reached the middle game, White made a huge blunder.

He played Bd7, totally losing one of his bishops. This gave Black a huge advantage in pushing for a win. Salamon grabbed this opportunity and calculated the best possible moves. As the game reached into a complicated endgame of two Knights vs Rook, Black made a huge blunder which turned the position into equal.

Black played Nb6, risking the pawn on g7. His knight was positioned so well on d5, threatening c3 and a2. Taking it back on b6 made White’s Rook path to take on g7 clear. With this move, White could have gained control over the position to at least push for a draw. But unfortunately, Fabian did not calculate this and chose to play Ke4.

After this, Black pushed her pawns, and White’s king was totally trapped. After this amazing win, Julia Salamon secured her title with 8 points which could not be affected by Racis Michal’s result. 

Racis Michal played with the white pieces against Omkar Talwalkar. Michal played the Queen’s Gambit which Omkar declined. However, Omkar made a mistake early in the game by playing Bc8.

With this move, he lost his d-pawn and also control of the center. Michal won this game comfortably and secured a silver medal with 7.5 points. 

After the 9th round, the winners in the Junior section are Julia Salamon (Gold with 8 points), Racis Michal (Silver with 7.5 points) and Nurgisa Kuanyshuly (Bronze with 7 points). 

Winners Julia Salamon (Left), Racis Michal (Right), and Nurgisa Kuanyshuly (Middle) | Photo: IBCA

Women's Section

Zslitzova Lubov played against Vruthi Jain with white pieces in the last round. She had already secured her Gold medal in the 8th round. The game opened with the Sicilian Defence with White comfortably developing her pieces.

Around the 20th move, Black’s pieces were totally stuck creating a bad position. Because of this, White kept on advancing, doing required exchanges and entering Black’s territory. Helpless Black resigned after the 43rd move. 

On the second board, Emilia Egeman faced her compatriot Jozefa Spychala with white pieces. Black made the mistake of playing Qc7 because it made White attack her bishop on e6.

Soon, Black played Rg8 as White was planning an attack on her King. In order to attack the Queen to avoid the possible attack, Black played Bg5 which was clearly a blunder as White’s Queen simply captured it.

At this point, Black resigned immediately and Emilia scored a win which secured her Silver medal.  

After the 9th round, the winners in the Women’s section are Zslitzova Lubov (Gold with 9 points), Emilia Egeman (Silver with 7.5 points), and Emilia Tryjanska (Bronze with 7 points). 

Winners Zslitzova Lubov (Left), Emilia Egeman (Middle) and Emilia Tryjanska (Right) | Photo: IBCA

The closing ceremony took place in the presence of sponsors and special guests, Dr. Charudutta Jadhav (President of AICFB), GM Tej Kumar, Mr. Arun Kumar (Director of Food and Beverage Committee at the Chancery Pavillion Hotel), Mrs. Padhmavati R (Joint Director of Karnataka Milk Federation), Rangnath Shenoy (CEO of Giniminds), Professor Amit Prakash (IIIT Banglore and Founder of Visual Empower) and Ms. Marilyn Bland (Member of IBCA Executive Board). The event concluded by felicitating the winners with medals, trophies, and certificates.  


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